The Awards will be an annual event, pulling in and recognizing innovative projects and pioneering work by AUHF and non-AUHF members alike.
Nairobi, November 01, 2023 – The Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) was recognized as the Most Innovative Housing PPP in Africa at the inaugural AUHF Affordable Housing Awards.
The awards ceremony was organized by the African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF) and took place alongside the union’s 39th annual conference on October 31st, 2023, in Windhoek, Namibia.
“We are excited to be recognized as the most innovative housing PPP in Africa and thank all our stakeholders for their support. This accolade is a testimony to the critical contribution that KMRC continues to make in Kenya, supporting mortgage lenders and housing sector stakeholders to ensure that home ownership increases significantly. This indicates that we are on the right trajectory and we will continue to be consistent and affordably deliver our value proposition to Kenyans,” said CEO Johnstone Oltetia
The AUHF Affordable Housing Awards are set to identify and showcase the developers, financiers, NGOs and local government departments that are breaking new ground in the affordable housing sector. The Awards will be an annual event, pulling in and recognizing innovative projects and pioneering work by AUHF and non-AUHF members alike.
KMRC commenced its lending operations in September 2020 and has till date disbursed Kes 9.6 billion to participating lenders for on-lending to borrowers. The Company provides competitive, low-interest, fixed, long-term finance to participating lenders, with a long repayment period (up to 25 years), making home loans attractive and affordable. Through its refinancing, KMRC has positively impacted 10,088 families.
Other notable achievements include: improving finance accessibility as a result of inclusion of SACCOs as part of its lenders thus diversity and healthy competition; promoting gender inclusivity- 45% of KMRC loans were extended to women as at end of 2022 therefore contributing towards gender parity in Kenya’s financial products’ access; providing access to capital market funding through its issuance of a corporate bond in March 2022 which attracted Kes 8.1billion worth of bids against a target of Kes 1.4 billion in the first tranche of the medium-term note program; establishment of a risk sharing facility- KMRC has initiated the process of developing a Risk Sharing Facility (RSF) to de-risk borrowers by offering a partial mortgage guarantee on the mortgage portfolios generated by lenders mainly from borrowers with non-formal income. This will encourage lenders to shift financing down market, widen the scope of housing finance and reduce the housing financing gap, especially for non-formal income borrowers who are considered “high risk.”
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